


There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

by littleboxesofstars



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: (aka richie has Bad Parents), Angst with a happy-ish ending, Child Neglect, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 21:33:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxesofstars/pseuds/littleboxesofstars
Summary: Richie's breath smells like the cigarette he'd put out against the heel of his shoe just a second before, but for possibly the first time, Eddie doesn't complain. He just puts his beat up Audi Quattro into drive and starts slowly up the street.





	There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

**Author's Note:**

> written for an anon that requested reddie + there is a light that never goes out by the smiths, also posted on @trash-the-tozier

Richie's breath smells like the cigarette he'd put out against the heel of his shoe just a second before, but for possibly the first time, Eddie doesn't complain. He just puts his beat up Audi Quattro into drive and starts slowly up the street.

"Thanks. For... For picking me up." Richie's voice sounds choked, as though he's speaking with a hand around his throat. He clears it, but it doesn't help. "I..."

He sounds like he's floundering, like he wants to speak of anything else, sending the quickest of glances at Eddie. But Eddie doesn't have anything to say either, so he doesn't, and they sit for a moment in silence, the darkness of the night and the hum of the car between them.

"What happened?" Eddie finally decides to say. It's a dangerous question, and he knows it. Richie is uncharacteristically quiet.

"I told them. My parents, I mean. At dinner. I figured it could be good to tell them first. I didn't think they would give a fuck, since they never give a fuck about me anyway. So I told them."

"Told them what, Richie?" Eddie wishes he didn't speak as fast as he did. Why does he speak so damn fast all the time?

"That... That I was gay."

God, the silence is deafening. Eddie feels as though his eardrums may be crushed under the weight of it, and he doesn't trust himself to speak. Eddie hadn't known. None of them had.

"Eds?" Richie asks. He sounds desperate; anxious.

  
"Oh." is all Eddie can think. It's all that comes from his mouth, but it's good enough, and Richie begins speaking again. Faster now, as though a dam has broken behind his tongue, quick and flowing and unapologetic.

"I just... I fucking said it, I don't know why, and they actually looked up at me. I guess that should have tipped me off that they gave a shit, you know? Acting like I was there for once. And I just laughed? I'd never seen my dad so pissed off before. My mom looked like a fucking ghost, and she was shaking, and..." He laughs, the sound not humorous, and there's no smile in his eyes. "So much damn screaming."

They come to a stop sign and Eddie takes his time, looking over Richie's face. He notices for the first time that Richie's eyes are red, and he feels a sharp ache in his chest.

"And..." Richie takes a deep breath. "They kicked me out. Disowned me. I'm an orphan now, Eds." He laughs again, and somehow, this one has feeling behind it. "Who would've guessed, Richie fucking Tozier, the homeless queer."

"Your parents are shit." Eddie says. There's so much force behind the words that Richie's looks over at him, and looks stunned. "Your parents have always been shit, you know that. What they say doesn't matter. What they think doesn't matter."

Richie falls silent again. There are no cars on the street so Eddie stays, his foot on the brake, waiting. Richie's voice sounds so damn broken that Eddie wants to cry with him.

"But they're my parents." He swallows. "They're my parents, Eds."

"People love you, Richie." Eddie tells him quietly. Richie begins shaking his head. His cheeks are wet. "You have people who love you, okay?"

"Eddie--"

Eddie leans over, taking Richie's face in his hands, kissing him. He tries to put the strength of his words behind his actions, Richie reaching for his arms, clinging to him, kissing him back with a terrible kind of desperation. Eddie pulls away, just barely, just enough to whisper.

"People love you."

Richie searches his eyes and Eddie sees Richie knows what he means, surging forward, kissing him roughly, tasting of cigarettes and so much hopelessness that Eddie's heart breaks for him.

"It's going to be okay." Eddie tells him, running his fingers through Richie's wild tangle of dark hair.

"Only if you're here."

"I'm here. I'm always here."

"God, I love you so damn much." His voice is so raw, so real, and Eddie kisses him again. Briefly this time, but it leaves him just as breathless anyway.

"Let's go home." He says, somehow leaning away, somehow finding the strength to urge the car forwards again.

"Home." Richie repeats. He sounds confused, and Eddie reaches out his hand for Richie to take. He means his home, his bedroom, where they've spent countless nights together, tangled up in their sheets and their pajamas and each other since they were kids. It only ever really felt like home when Richie was there anyway. Richie entwines their fingers, squeezing so tightly that it almost hurts.

"Yeah, home. You need to sleep. You look like shit."

Miraculously, Richie actually cracks a smile.

"But you still love me." He teases. His voice is light, the sentence ready to be played off if it's anything but completely true.

"Yeah." Eddie says. "I do."


End file.
